New Horizons

Now that summer is really here, we have a little more time to relax and enjoy our surroundings.  As always, we’re looking for new things to try.  Last year, a friend told me about a bike path in Brattleboro that was relatively flat and good for young riders.  We decided to give it a try a couple weeks ago.  The entrance to the path is located just behind one of our favorite Brattleboro spots, The Marina Restaurant.

It’s really a nice trail.  There are a two difficult hills, one up and one down, but most of the trail is a nice and flat, following the West River.  There are lots of different terrains – meadow, woods, rocky cliffs.

The trail also goes by the huge construction project on Interstate 91 – they are replacing the bridge over the West River.  It’s taking forever for them to do it, but it’s really cool to see it from below.

Here are Jake and Lydia biking through one of the most picturesque portions of the trail. Isn’t Vermont beautiful?

Miss Lydia exploring:

We followed up our ride with lunch at The Marina and frozen yogurt downtown… a lovely family day!

We Made It To Summer!

 

I look forward to Spring every year.  Not just the warming temperatures and the return to green, but the renewal of family activity.  We go back outside, we get moving again, we work our way toward the end of June, when summer begins.  Even though I look forward to it, getting through the Spring season is hard.  Everything heats up, and I’m not just talking about the weather.  School, music, and sports all meet in a terrifying miasma and end in a crescendo of exams, concerts, recitals, and tournament games.

Aaron excelled at Farm League baseball this year.  His hitting and throwing have improved amazingly, and he’s starting to figure out what to do with the ball when he gets it.  His team was a bit of a challenge this year – he was one of the oldest, but he soldiered through, and I think the odds are good that he’ll go on to Little League next year.

Jacob is a trumpeting machine.  Despite a mouth full of braces, he works so hard.  He was second chair this year in his middle school band, and also played in the jazz band.  He moved on to the high school next year, and is excited to get the opportunity to play in the marching band.  These pictures are from their end-of-year concert:

Last but not least, Miss Lydia is a softball machine.  She loves the game, and takes it very seriously.  She recruited several friends from school to play this year, so they had a big team filled with friends old and new.  She hit, she fielded like a pro, she pitched!  I think there is a lot of softball in our future.  :-)

All in all, it was exhausting, and wonderful.  As they get older, I realize more and more that there will be a time when I’m not running around like a crazy woman and shoving frozen pizza down my gullet so that I can drop Jake at band and go to Aaron’s game for two innings before I dash across town for the end of Lydia’s game.  And that thought makes me slightly sad.  That being said, I’m so glad that summer is here!  Let the long days and warm nights begin!